Like all brands, Mazda gets porkier every year, its vehicles adding 80 lbs with each successive redesign. Now Mazda says it plans to hit the gym, reducing vehicle weight by at least 220 lbs beginning in 2011. How, Ultra Slim-Fast?

In a speech to the Motor Press Guild yesterday, Robert Davis, senior vice president of product development for Mazda NorAm says they plan to cut the weight in a way Tommy LaSorda can't, by using lighter-weight materials like aluminum and higher-strength steel, smaller vehicle footprints and new engineering processes. Davis claims that reducing curb weight by a man-sized amount will help to improve fuel economy by 3-5%. Also, to make sure the MX-5 will still be able to fit in the Miata's old dresses for the 25th Anniversary reunion in 2014. [via Automotive News]